Eggplant Chickpea Risotto

It’s beginning to feel like fall around here, so I’ve been turning to my cast iron skillet and Dutch oven to cook up warm, comforting, veggies and grains.

I’m also pretty much practice reverse meal prep. I fall in love with beautiful veggies and buy them, then figure out later what to do with them. (I admit this is not the most efficient method, but it’s where I’m at.) Last night it was a lovely eggplant that’s been chilling in my fridge. Into the cast iron skillet it went with lots of garlic and onion powder and a can of chickpeas.

This came out lovely (much more lovely than this photo), but needed something to go with…I found some arborio rice in the pantry and a recipe for a “Forget the Stove Risotto” that sounded delish, but was made with chicken broth and dairy. Sooo, I subbed veggie broth for the chicken broth, nutritional yeast for the cheese, and coconut oil for the butter…and it came out really good! My daughter said it tasted like macaroni and cheese and kept eating it.